James Ibori, a former governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta State from 1999 to 2007, has been exposed in a Panama newspaper as a ‘Power Player’.
James Ibori pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012 to conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offenses.
Ibori admitted to using his position as governor to corruptly obtain and divert up to $75 million out of Nigeria through a network of offshore companies, although authorities alleged that the total amount he embezzled may have exceeded $250 million.
Ibori, who received a 13-year prison sentence, used millions of dollars to support a lavish lifestyle that included six houses in London and a fleet of Range Rovers, Bentleys and Mercedes.
Mossack Fonseca, an offshore company involved in Ibori’s fraud and money laundering investigation, was the registered agent of four offshore companies connected to James Ibori, including Julex Foundation, of which Ibori and family members were beneficiaries.
In 2008, Mossack Fonseca received a request from the Seychelles government to produce documents as part of a probe by the Crown Prosecution Service, England’s principal prosecuting authority, of Ibori and alleged criminal activities.
During court hearings in the United Kingdom, prosecutors claimed that Ibori opened a Swiss bank account in the name of Stanhope Investments through which millions of dollars were later channeled to ultimately buy a $20 million private jet.
Ibori was also connected to Financial Advisory Group Limited, Hunglevest Corporation, and Julex Fondation, the shareholder of Stanhope Investments, a company incorporated in Niue in 2003.